


Here Comes The Sun

by SpaceAsthmatic



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Blidness, Blinded from injury, Bonding, But they recover, Cute Ending, Danger, Doriath, F/M, Family, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Fatherhood, Fear, Fear of Death, Feel-good, First Age, Happy Ending, Injury, Protective, Protectiveness, Rescue, Sunburn, Sunrises, Suspense, Temporary Blindness, Young Thranduil, first sunrise, good dad oropher, good family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:55:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23648068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceAsthmatic/pseuds/SpaceAsthmatic
Summary: After the destruction of the two tree's in Valinor, the Valar took the last remaining lights and used them to create the sun and the moon to spread light across their land of Aman and beyond. But the elves in Middle Earth have only ever seen eternal night. Thranduil is out of the city when the sun starts to rise for the very first time, and Oropher races to reach him before the fire in the sky Melian warned them about can cause him harm.
Relationships: Celeborn & Oropher, Celeborn & Thranduil (Tolkien), Lúthien & Thranduil, Oropher & Thranduil (Tolkien), Oropher/Oropher's Wife
Comments: 5
Kudos: 58





	Here Comes The Sun

Oropher stood completely still by force alone. A complete contradiction to how he felt on the inside, which was a swirling vortex of nothing but anxiety and paralyzing fear. 

But he stood still. No matter how much of a struggle it was to keep himself from pacing back and forth before the entrance to Menegroth’s secret entrance or at the very least bounce his leg or drum his fingers. 

He could sense Celeborn’s anxiety as the younger elf stood near him but a little ways back, probably more to get away from Oropher and his temper rather than anything that might come through the entrance. 

Oropher heard footsteps echoing down the corridor and rushed forward before Luthien had a chance to fully make her way out and gripped both of her arms near frantically, “Is Thranduil not with you?” 

Her expression was all the information he needed, “Where did you last see him.” 

Trying to find the thoughts and words that she needed to explain the information must have been too hard to describe and so she pushed the memory into his mind instead. One of the many talents she was capable of if one had their mind open to her, courtesy of her mother’s power. Which, Oropher would never do. 

The memory showed Thranduil calling back to her, something about checking to see if the Lake Turtles had started to crawl out of their caves on to the open water. Then Thranduil heading in a direction Oropher had taken his son many times himself.

Thranduil had always loved that lake, and especially the Turtles. He had once spent four entire summers mapping out their underwater cave systems complete with little name tags for which turtle tended to live in which part of the tunnel. 

“Should I come?” Celeborn asked.

“No, take Luthien back to her father and tell Thingol and Muinthel that I’ve gone to get Thranduil. Don’t let anybody else out of the city until we learn if the fire in the sky will harm us or not. 

Oropher reached over to Celeborn's quiver and took all the arrows that remained inside from his training earlier in the day and added it to his own. A guard nearby said, “My lord, King Thingol ordered us not to let anybody leave the city. Anybody includes you, my lord.” 

Oropher did not even look at them, “No, it doesn’t if my son is out there.” 

“Unfortunately it does.” 

“Well then I plan to stab anyone, and I do mean anyone, who tries to get between me and finding Thranduil.” This time Oropher did turn his cruel eyes to him, “Feeling like a pincushion today?” 

The guard to a physical step back, “Not particularly.” 

"You're going to burn alive, my lord!" The other guard tried, but that didn't phase Oropher either. 

"I don’t care, my son will not burn alone. That's all I care about." Oropher departed from the secret tunnel at once and out in the forest. One eye on the forest around him, and one on the sky. The warning her siblings had given Melein was vague at best, and all Oropher could hope was that the sky would not actually light on fire. 

But with the Valar, one could never be sure.

**0.0.0.0.0.0.0**

Thranduil surfaced from the lake with a gasping breath, pleased with himself for setting a new personal record for being underwater. He cheered to himself in the center of the still lake, going back under ther water momentarily to better push the hair from his face when he resurfaced. 

His celebration was short-lived however when he realized that the world was somehow brighter than it had been when he had started swimming. Bewildered, he turned his attention to the sky to see if for some reason more stars had been added to the sky, but all seemed the same. His eyes traced the small rays of light to their source. 

Just in time to see specs of orange and yellow peak over the horizon line. 

All of his movement froze until he began to sink under the water surface again, but his eyes never left the specs of orange. He had never seen anything like this before in his entire life. It didn’t make sense to him, where this bright light was coming from. The only thing he had ever seen to create light like that was the fire. 

Fire. 

His mind pulled up the memory of his Uncle Thingol telling him a particularly tense story of when their forest was set on fire from a lightning strike once. He had been terrified at the prospect now, but looking on as the light grew higher it almost made him sick. 

He had never seen a fire like that. Only have of him had even believed his Uncle over how much of the forest had burned, it just didn’t seem logical. But then, neither did this. 

There should be nothing on Arda that could alter the light they got from the stars. Yet here it was. Coming towards him. 

Limbs numb with panic, Thranduil began to frantically swim for the shoreline. Hoping that he could be able to reach home before the fire reached him. Or, at the very least, until he found a deep enough cave to maybe allow his survival. 

**0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0.0**

Oropher’s legs and hips ached with the speed he forced them to move with. Faster than they had ever gone before, faster than they were meant to do. 

That didn’t matter. He didn’t care. He didn’t care if the stress from the run broke his legs in nine places, it would not get him to slow his pace. Not until after he found Thranduil and had either gotten his son to safety or died holding him in his arms telling Thranduil how much he loved him. Those were the only two acceptable choices. 

His knee twinged with disagreement but he ignored it entirely.

Instead, he put his attention into bellowing as loudly as he could, “Thranduil!” 

His legs were given a momentary respite as he slowed just a little to listen carefully if there was any form of response. When there was nothing he made his body run faster again. 

Oh, how he hoped Thranduil had taken the right path back. The path they agreed he would take if he was ever out in the woods when something bad happened so that his family would know where to go to find him. 

He hoped Thranduil had already noticed the oncoming danger and had begun making his way back home. Just in case he hadn’t, he adjusted his pace to go just a little bit faster yet. 

**0.0.0.0.0.0..0..0.0.0.0**

Thranduil could tell that the fire was growing because the light was getting all the more noticeable. He had never seen his forest so lit like this before, and he wasn’t a fan of it. Judging by the stampeded of animals that joined him in his flight he was not the only one that found this situation unsatisfactory. 

He struggled harshly against the urge to turn and look behind him to see how close the fire was getting. It was knowledge desperately wanted but feared could render him motionless if he possessed it. 

The light filtering into his eyes was starting to become so great that he was forced to blink rapidly in order to see where he was going more clearly. Not long after, tears pain began to swell and leak from his eyes. The light feeling as if his eyes were being stabbed repeatedly. 

He had never seen anything so bright before, he never wanted to see anything this bright ever again. 

Thranduil took a sharp left a the fork to go down the path he had promised he would take in case there was any danger so that his family would know where to come to find to protect him. Probably his Ada, almost certainly his Ada. 

So far, it had always been his Ada to come and save him, and he had always been on time to do so. 

His eyes began to water more dramatically, not from physical pain this time but emotionally. Thranduil could not remember the last time he had wanted his Ada so badly in his life. 

**0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0**

The complaints from his eyes joined the complaints from his lates in the part of his brain that Oropher was thoroughly ignoring as if his life depended on it. Because something even more than that might have been resting on it. 

Thranduil’s life. 

Every survival instinct Eru had given him was screaming to turn around and not run directly towards the fire, but he just laughed at them. Laughed that anything thought it might be more important than the love burning hotter in his heart than the fire that ignited the sky. 

“Thranduil!” 

**0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.**

It was so bright that Thranduil was nearly totally blinded, and he found himself unable to make himself keep running forward even though he thought he knew the trail back home off by heart. But a swirl of fears prevented him from believing him himself. 

Images of burning tree’s blocking his passages that he would never be able to get around, or of falling off the edge of a steep ravine and being trapped while the fire consumed him. Of something far worse finding him and stealing him away for foul purposes, he knew where Morgoth had created Orcs. 

He kept stumbling forward, arms outstretched to prevent him from running into any objects. Momentarily he thought about finding some sort of gave to hide in. But he would not be able to see through the underbrush to maneuver anywhere. 

At least if he stayed on the path, there was a chance somebody might be able to help him. He wanted somebody to help him. 

“Ada!” He half cried and half sobbed. His entire body starting to shake when there was no response. 

**0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.**

Oropher thought he heard something, the tail end of a word. Not just any word, a name. His name, to the particular voice who had called it. For the first time since he had left the city he let his eyes water, but not in pain but relief. 

He wasn’t too late. Thranduil was still here. Thranduil had not died scared, alone, and crying for his Ada to come and help him. Begging Mandos to take him away so that he would not have to feel any of it anymore. 

“Thranduil!” He called but did not hear a response. So he tried again, louder this time. Louder than he had ever been, his voice straining with anger at being forced to do such a thing, “Thranduil!” 

It was getting so hard to see, but he didn’t care. His eyes would just have to deal with it, for now, they could go blind once he got Thranduil home if they so wished. As if agreeing with this statement, his eyes still allowed him to see shapes in his peripheral vision and an only halfway blurry vision in the center. 

It was enough to go forward and enough to find Thranduil, and so he thanked them for their service and kept running onwards. 

**0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0**

“Ada!” Thranduil called again, still struggling forward. Dismayed at the lack of strength his voice held in light of the encroaching complete and utter panic. Nothing was visible except for an uninterrupted curtain of white. 

For all he knew, the world had already burned around him. Maybe he was just waiting for Mandos to come and get him because too many creatures had died in the fire and he was too busy. 

Then he heard the absolute best sound in his entire life. His father’s desperate voice, but a voice that was as strong as ever, “Thranduil!” 

“Ada!” Thranduil screamed at the top of his lungs, unable to tell where exactly the voice had come from, “Ada! Ada, I’m over here! Help! Please help!” 

**0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.**

  
  


“Ada, I’m over here! Help! Please help!” Oropher had never heard Thranduil call for him like that before, not even when he was a small elfling in the middle of a nightmare. The pitch of Thranduil’s voice seemed to add the last bit of energy his legs needed to reach Thranduil within a minute. 

His heart shattered at the sight of his poor son, standing alone in the middle of a forest path both tears and blood leaking from his eyes. Panic and hopelessness conveyed with every bone in his body. Smothering fear laying over his face until he was practically gasping for air. 

“I’m here,” Oropher told Thranduil as he ran up, “I’m here Thranduil. It’s alright you aren’t alone anymore, I’me here.” 

Thranduil was in his arms searching desperately for any drip of comfort that he could find in this horrifying situation, “Ada, I can’t see anything.” 

Oropher crushed his son against him for only a few seconds before he forced Thranduil away slightly so that he could use his knife to cut off his sleeve, “Its alright, we will fix it once we get home, alright? Melian will find a way to heal them.” 

Once the sleeve was free, Oropher quickly grabbed a few thick leaves from a nearby bush and put them over Thranduil’s eyes. Then he tied his sleeve around Thranduil’s head to keep them from moving in any way, hoping it shielded his poor sensitive eyes from the onslaught of light. 

“Ada, I’m so scared.” 

“I know,” Oropher said in a manner he hoped was at least a little bit comforting, “But its going to be alright just trust me. I’m going to pick you up now.” 

For perhaps the first time in decades, Thranduil had not one snarky word or complaint at being told what was going to happen to him. It did not take Oropher long to have his son slung over his back like a deer, and for his legs to be carrying his back home under the same stress they had traveled here under. 

**0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0**

When he entered the secret tunneled entrance onto Menegroth, Oropher eyes lost all of their eyesight as well. But all he did was thank them because they had done what he had asked. They had continued to function until he had found his son and brought him home safely and securely. 

Once he had turned the first corner from the ‘open’ entrance, Oropher finally slowed his pace and carefully put Thranduil back onto the ground. “We’re home. We made it home.” 

Thranduil didn’t say anything, and since he could not see in order to read his son’s expression he reached a hand out to feel for him. To find him trembling less than softly. 

“It’s alright,” Oropher soothed, pulling Thranduil into his arms again and holding him tightly, “It's alright to feel it. It’s alright.” 

“That was awful,” Thranduil said into his father’s chest, “I was so scared. I didn’t know if you would find me… I didn’t know if you would be able to save me that time”

Oropher gently kissed Thranduil on the head, “I will always come and save you as long as I am on this earth with you. Always. Whatever wants to find you, will have to deal with me first.” 

Thranduil just nodded silently into his chest, not making any more to pull away, “Ada?” 

“Hmm?” 

“You can’t see either, can you?” 

Oropher thought about lying to his son but decided that Thranduil would likely have been able to hear it in his tone. He had never been good at lying, “No, I can’t.” 

“I’m sorr-”

“Not your fault.” Oropher interrupted immediately before Thranduil could even finish apologizing. “Nothing that happened, had anything to do with you. Alright? Nothing. I would do it a thousand times over any day.” 

“You would willingly go blind thousands of times?” 

“For my son? I would do anything thousands of times if only it meant he was safe.” 

**0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.**

  
  


“They’re calling it what?” Oropher demanded, still blanking rapidly in the low firelight in the room as the bandages were removed from his eyes for a small timeframe as they grew accustomed to processing light. Thranduil had to do the same exercises as him.

But at least Melian seemed confident that their eyesight could indeed be fixed. 

“The Sun’” Melian answered, “I have been assured that your bodies as grow accustomed to the light and will not longer react so…. Negatively.” 

“I would have used a stronger word than ‘negatively’ but I understand your meaning,” Oropher replied, resisting the urge to rub at his eyes. Which, apparently, had been badly burnt. 

“Yes, we are all aware of your fondness for strong words,” Melian said, a teasing smile obvious in her voice. 

“I’m not sure if we will be able to get Thranduil to go outside again though,” Thingol said to nobody in particular. “Luthien says he has been waking with nightmares several times in a sleep.” Information that Luthien would know since Thranduil had taken to sleeping in her bed with her since Oropher had returned him home a little over a week ago. 

Oropher snorted a laugh, “ You ought to know that Thranduil will not allow himself to be held back by anyone or anything. That includes himself and his fears. I have a feeling he will be one of the first back out under the ‘sun’ once he is healed.” 

**0.0.0.0.0.0.00.0.0.0.0**

“Come on Ada,” Thranduil encouraged. “Don’t be worried, it’s fine, I promise.” 

Oropher remained standing somewhat apprehensively at the cave exit, lingering in the shadows rather than step out into the unseemly bright world that was beyond it. 

Thranduil came back inside the cave and stood before his father, “Will you not come for a walk with me, Ada?” He asked in a tone of voice that was usually kept as a secret weapon only to be used when the situation called for such extremes: A lonely elfling wanting love and affection from the person they had chosen. 

Oropher leveled his son with a stern look, but Thranduil’s expression did not change as he continued to stare expectantly at his father. His blue eyes large and rounder than should be physically possible. 

“I don’t know, Thranduil..” 

He should have known that the likelihood of that being taken as an answer was slim to none, yet Oropher had to try. It only took one look at Thranduil’s face for him to know that this was one battle his son was determined to win. 

Even if it took him decades to do so. Centuries, if that’s what it took. 

“You went blind for me once, but you won’t go blind for me again?” Thranduil asked, taking his father’s hand before taking one single step backward until only half of him was in the shade. 

Oropher sighed, and then with a wince and an obvious cringe, he let Thranduil let him into the sunlight. At least hearing Thranduils delighted laugh and cheer would have been worth it had he gone blind again. 

Which, thankfully, he did not. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope that you enjoyed the story, and it would mean the world to mean if you could leave me a review! Thanks!


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